The Tibanna Crisis
by DarthWriter76
Summary: Cloud City has agreed to provide tibanna to the Republic over the course of the Clone Wars. However the production of this critical gas has gone down, and the Jedi suspect corruption. They send Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to investigate the problem, but the the investigation will not be as easy as it first sounds. Unfinished, and will likely stay that way.
1. Chapter 1

Anakin's starfighter whizzes through the ruined Separatist defenses, blasting at any Vulture Droids that dare to come near him. "Boys, let's finish this," He says into the comm. A chorus of battle cries only encourages him as he speeds up. He and his V-19 Torrents are protecting the Y-Wing bombers coming in behind, and doing a very good job. The retaking of Kashyyyk as a whole is going equally well, and the last pockets of CIS resistance are crumbling.

His starfighter takes down a row of turrets on the closest Banking Clan Frigate, leaving it wide open for the Y-Wings to unleash heavy fire. The war has not gone on for long, but Anakin and Obi-Wan have already become well-known heroes. Kashyyyk is one of many battles, and it will soon come to an end. On the surface, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka should be leading the final assaults within the treetops. The three Venator Class cruisers are firing shots at the weak Separatist fleet, but they don't have to. Anakin and his squadrons have already destroyed 2 frigates.

Aboard the Separatist warship known as the _Decimator_ , commander Rund Skurd surveys the battle. His army has lost. He knows it, his commanders know it, and Dooku also knows it. His remaining tactical droid, TR-86, is in charge of the only village not taken or under siege, and he calculates that the odds of their victory is 93 to 1. His fleet is wounded and crumbling, and his droids are few.

The 93-1 odds are before they lost a frigate. Suddenly, his ship lets loose a loud rumble and shakes. "What is it, have we been hit," he asks, to no one in particular. "No, sir," a droid says. "We collided with the remains of the other frigate. He looks out the viewport, and sees the remains of the second frigate. Their ship is all that is left. Another shake reverberates throughout the ship, and suddenly, he is floating in zero gravity.

"Gravity generators have been damaged, and shields are down," a droid says. If the battle wasn't hopeless before, it is certainly hopeless now. He could choose to die here, go down in battle. Or he could retreat, and get killed by Dooku. Or, perhaps he could retreat, but not go back to Dooku. He certainly wouldn't be the first Neimoidian to desert a lost cause.

"Prep my shuttle as soon as possible, and jump to hyperspace as soon as I jump," he says. They droids know he is deserting, but no one else can give them orders. So, they have no choice but follow his. "Roger, roger," they say, in unison. Admiral Skurd, not much of an admiral anymore, heads to his shuttle, walking faster than he ever has before. It takes less than a minute to arrive, and droids have already opened the boarding ramp, where two stand guard. He enters, and the droids start to follow him in. "No," he says. "I am going alone." They stop, unsure of what to do. He suddenly closes the doors, leaving the droids outside his shuttle. He detaches from the doomed ship, and jumps to hyperspace, off to a nearby system, where he can take the time to disable his ship's locator beacon.

The remaining frigate suddenly retreats into hyperspace. Over the comm, a pilot yells out, "That is why we Y-Wing pilots have the best ships around. You should try riding in a tibanna powered ship!"

Anakin sighs. "Of all the things, you give credit to your Y-Wings' fuel?" he asks, surprised.

"That's Burner for you," another pilot says. "His motto is..."

A chorus of the entire squadron rings out, "Take care of your ship, and it will take care of you!"

Ironically, Anakin is the first one to regain seriousness, and he switches to the frequency of their admiral. "Admiral Yularen, should we provide aid in the ground battle?" he asks. Aboard the bridge of the main flagship, Yularen briefly thinks it over. "It is probably unneeded, but I will contact General Kenobi."

"No need," Anakin says, "I can do it myself. Put me through, Artoo." Yularen subtly sighs. It's the little things that count, and these minor disobediences will grow someday. No, he corrects himself. They already have grown. Major disobediences are frequent, too, with Anakin. Though Yularen hopes against it, one day, Anakin will likely disobey a critical order, and it will be the end of him. And, if Yularen isn't careful, he will go down too, along with the rash young Jedi.

"Obi-Wan," Anakin says over the comm, "Do you need any help down there, in the form of an airstrike?"

"We are doing perfectly fine, and collateral damage isn't worth it. This battle is easy enough already. You and your squadron can go back to the hangar."

Anakin orders the starfighters back to the hangar, as told, but decides that he has no reason to go back. "Yularen, I am sending the starfighters back, but I am going down there to help." Yularen sighs. He heard the conversation between Anakin and Obi-Wan. "General Kenobi doesn't need help. He told you."

Anakin smiles. "Then why does he have Ahsoka?"

Yularen doesn't bother to sigh. He has already done enough of that today. "He needs Ahsoka, but no more than that."

"Fine," Anakin says. "If that's what you think, then I'll tell Snips to leave, and I will replace her."

Yularen decides to go with eye-rolling this time. "I am not going to bother anymore with such a minor decision. You may go join the battle."

Anakin smiles. "Now I don't have say that I disobeyed you. I was given permission." Before Yularen can respond, Anakin shuts off the comm.

Yularen decides that one more sigh can't hurt.

In the Kashyyyk treetops, Obi-Wan Kenobi is fighting droids in his usual way. Deadly, but with ease. Almost casually. Droids fall to their own deflected blaster fire, almost one per second, from Kenobi alone. He presses forward at a fast pace, but he and his squad of clones still destroy all the droids in their path. The CIS resistance had crumbled, but droids don't surrender. It's not in their programming. So the stupid droids fight, needlessly, to the last man. Or droid.

He senses a potentially fatal shot going toward Cody, but easily steps in front of it and deflects it. Then, he spins around and blocks another shot, this one goes back at the droid who shot it. As they enter another platform, he got a view of the other team, led by Ahsoka.

His team shoots a few more droids, securing the area, and he goes to approach Ahsoka. She smiles as they come up to her. "Obi-Wan! Is this the last of them? Have we won?" Obi-Wan shakes his head. "No. Another village is still occupied. It is a quarter kilometer north." Ahsoka nods her head. "Let's go. We'll take it together."

They arrive two minutes later. This one had a T-Series Tactical Droid in charge. "Get them. Kill the intruders," it says, in a deep, monotone, voice. With a casual flick of the wrist, Ahsoka sends the villainous droid off the edge of the platform. She does not bother to check if it survived. Obi-Wan activates his lightsaber and defends himself from the incoming fire.

Ahsoka leaps up through the blaster fire, activating her lightsaber mid-air. She lands on the droid, crushing it, before slicing through two more with her lightsaber. Still, about twelve more droids converge on her, and she deflects the incoming onslaught. For a time, at least.

Still, while the droids focus on her, the clones fire at them, bringing some down. As they turn, Ahsoka leaps at them, bringing another two down.

Above the battle, in his starfighter, Anakin watches, smiling. It is going well. To bad he didn't fight in the whole thing. His starfighter begins dipping down, towards the battle.

In the onslaught, Ahsoka, senses a well-known presence. It is Anakin, she looks up, and sees his starfighter. They are definitely going to win. Still, she has a battle to fight, and turns her attention to the droids. To late.

A shot hits her straight in the gut. She cries out in pain, and falls to the ground. The droids converge on her, and she is not ready to fight back. Obi-Wan tries to leap in, but he has no time. The clones can never take down all of the droids in time. The next shot is coming for her head. She is, for all intents and purposes, dead. All because she was distracted for a second. All because Anakin came into the battle.

Anakin saw it all unfold in his starfighter. He was already preparing to go into battle, when he distracted Ahsoka. Then, she took the shot in the gut. It would be survivable, but in the pain, she could not fight back. She would be helpless when they fire. Her lightsaber lay next to her, she had dropped it.

He acts on instinct. Instinct is all he has. He jumps _downwards_ , pushing off the bottom of his starfighter, shooting off like a rocket, straight into the frenzy. The move is suicide. Not even his former master, Obi-Wan, a master of Soresu, could deflect eight shots fired at the same exact time.

Even if Anakin blocks the shots with his body, he cannot stop them all. It's pitiful. Ahsoka Tano, killed by eight battle droids. If Anakin goes down, too, these could be the first CIS droids to win a medal of honor. Anakin lands his jump, putting him on top of Ahsoka. The droids fire. Anakin will not dodge. He cannot stand by as Ahsoka dies.

All eight droids fall backwards, dead, with shots going through each of their heads. Anakin stands in the middle, unharmed. Below him, Ahsoka looks up, unsure of what happened. Anakin shakes as he holds his lightsaber, as if the droids who were destroyed were his best friends. Obi-Wan runs up to him. "What happened, Anakin?"

"I... I don't know," he says. "I blocked every shot. All of them. And they all went back at the droids." Obi-Wan strokes his beard thoughtfully, and with a chuckle, he says, "All I saw was a blur for a quarter of a second, and then... this. Have you been secretly learning Soresu?"

"I didn't want her to die. I gave control, complete control, to the Force." Obi-Wan nods, and then says, educationally, "Such an exercise is called moving meditation. That is one of the greatest uses of it that I have ever seen." Five more droids come out from behind a hut, only to be quickly destroyed by a force push.

Then, Obi-Wan realizes that Anakin wasn't supposed to be with them in the first place. "Wait a minute, Anakin. What are you doing here? If you hadn't shown up, none of this would have ever happened."

Anakin grimances. "Well... Ahh... Sorry, master. I just wanted to join in on the fun." Ahsoka looks up, scowling. "Snips, you're the one who got distracted," Anakin says, in a futile attempt to dodge blame. "Ani, you're the one who disobeyed orders," Obi-Wan says. Then Anakin realizes a loophole. He might win a bout of verbal sparring with Obi-Wan. "Actually, Yularen give permission to join in." Obi-Wan curses something under his breath, in Nelvaanese. Anakin smiles. He won. Kind of.

Obi-Wan turns on his comlink. "Admiral Yularen. This is General Kenobi." Of course, Yularen would know this by recognizing the frequency, but the Admiral was always a stickler with protocol, so Obi-Wan uses proper protocol. "We need a medical evac. Commander Tano is badly injured. Also, what in the..." Obi-Wan doesn't want to swear in front of Anakin. "galaxy would make you give Anakin permission for that."

Yularen sighs. Again. That was about seven today, with four of them over the course of five minutes. "You know what it is like to deal with him. Can I be reassigned?" Obi-Wan breathes out through his nose in a subtle chuckle. He can sympathize with this man.

Anakin paces back and forth through the medical bay of the Venator Class Star Destroyer. It is a dim gray, mixed with pure white beds, and medical cabinets of a color in between the two. The only color is in the occupants. Kashyyyk had few injuries, as it was fairly easy by the standards of most battles. Obi-Wan also stands in the room, waiting, with Ahsoka in the bed. A 2-1B medical droid treats to Ahsoka's injuries, with help from FX series assistant.

Anakin is bored and worried. Ahsoka is knocked unconscious to reduce pain in the procedures, the 2-1B droids are not particularly sociable, and Obi-Wan is lost in thought, reading on his datapad a novel entitled, "A Beginner's Guide to the Fine Art of Farming Grogru Fruit." They are all that is in the room. So they wait.

"How is she doing?" Anakin finally asks, incapable of understanding medical jargon in binary. He thought he could interpret binary somewhat well, but medical jargon combined with it is too much. "The patient's condition is not bad. As of now, she should be stabilized within hours. However, she will need time to recover. Not much, but I would recommend two weeks away from the action. For a Jedi, with enhanced healing techniques, I would advise only a week." Obi-Wan finally looks up from his absolutely enthralling novel. "Well, I would say that is good news."

Anakin nods. A week is not that long. "We will need another Jedi to complete the dynamic trio," he says with a smile. Obi-Wan gives him a questioning look. "Ummm... Where did you come up with that?"

"The holonet. Where else?"

"Anakin, when do you possibly find time?"

"Coming from a man who reads books on growing grogru fruit."

"It may come in handy sometime."

"If you retire and become a grogru farmer," Anakin says, trying to keep his laughter from getting out of hand. "Seriously. Do something fun for a change."

"So your version of 'fun' is watching the holonet."

Anakin decides to change the subject. "Who do you think could fill Ahsoka's role in the dynamic trio?" he says containing his laughter to a mere smile.

Obi-Wan rubs his beard. "Well... I think that you could replace her quite well. Shien lightsaber style, still has much to learn, promoted way too early, rash..." He fails to realize Ahsoka has awakened. Both Anakin and Ahsoka are angry now. Obi-Wan's eyes double in size when she says, "I think Anakin won't be the only one offended."

Anakin turns things right back in hurry, saying, "However, I do think that when you get injured, Master Yoda would make a nice replacement. No life outside the Jedi whatsoever, past his prime, gives laborious lectures, hates piloting..." At the second one, Obi-Wan takes offense, and at the last, he finds it untruthful. Both his comments, though, are drowned out by laughter amongst the two younger Jedi.

The Jedi Council is a place Anakin and Obi-Wan have visited often. The large, panoramic windows giving a view of Coruscant, the warmly decorated floor, the feeling of being surrounded, the stern and serene at the same time faces, it is all familiar. It is home.

They give their report accurately, until they get to the part where Anakin joins the battle, and accidentally, nearly kills Ahsoka. Obi-Wan had to take over for those parts, and keep the integrity of the account.

Mace speaks first. "Young Skywalker, you made a slight mistake. Things turned out badly as a result, but I think we can blame coincidence here."

Yoda, of course, has to at least speak second, so he is next. "Agree with Master Windu I do, but careful you must be. Next time, consequences, there may be."

"Agreed," says Kit Fisto, in his usual charming voice.

A general chorus of approval confirms Yoda's position. After just those few minutes, they are already onto current matters. "Now, onto more current matters, we must go, hmmm?" Anakin gives a slight smile. "Where is our next battle?"

By Yoda's standards, his laugh that followed was pretty long, at about five seconds. "Wrong, you are, Skywalker. Not a battle, this mission is, hmmm. A simple investigation, it is."

Anakin takes his turn to chuckle. "First, investigations are never simple, and second, the CIS is likely behind it, and that means at least a little battle."

This time the humor earns a disappointed, stern, glare. "Well then," Mace Windu says. "To continue, on a serious note, our Y-Wings are reliant on tibanna gas as fuel, and we receive quite a bit from a supplier on Bespin. A floating facility called Cloud City earns plenty in the tourism business, but also works with tibanna gas production. It is both governmentally and privately done, and they have a contract to supply the Republic.

Production has gone down to an extent in multiple suppliers that we are starting to assume something is going on. It is starving us of our tibanna, and we need an investigation."

Anakin nods. "Sounds simple enough. Obi-Wan and I should manage without Ahsoka."

At this point, the Council has simply gotten used to the informal protocol. "May the Force be with you," Adi Gallia says, her way of ending the session. A chorus of the same phrase is echoed throughout the council. "May the Force be with you," Obi-Wan responds, and he and his partner leave.

"Are you certain that this is the best course of action?" Depa Billiba asks once they are gone. "I can understand investigating this, but is sending our two most well known Jedi a little too much attention?" Yoda slightly twitches his ear, a sign generally hinting at distress. "Our forces are spread thin as it is," Mace Windu adds. "Numerous other fronts could use their help."

"Time, Skywalker needs, to ponder his actions, hmmm?" Yoda finally says. "Time away from the battlefield, needed it is, for both of them."

Plo Koon rubs his mask, like Obi-Wan would do with his beard. "Still, I am not sure this decision is worth it."

"I do think constant battle is starting to get to them, particularly Skywalker," Saesee Tiin says.

"Only time will tell if this is worth it," Mace Windu says.

"May the Force be with them," Ki-Adi Mundi says. "We made our decision before the meeting, and it has been settled. They will go."

Mace stares him down in his usual, stern way, but nods his head in agreement. "It is settled then," he finally says.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahsoka _hates_ being out of the action. She had not been with Anakin for long, but it had already happened a few times. "This one is just too dangerous, Ahsoka," or "I think you need some time away from the battlefield," he would sometimes just tell her she couldn't go on a mission. It is annoying, to put it kindly. More accurately, she downright hates it. Being away from the battlefield is her new nightmare. Right now, she sits in her quarters, thinking about it, and all of its evil.

First, she never knew what might happen to Anakin. He could die, and she would not know how. She would not be with him, never be able to say that last goodbye. She would eventually get filled in, at least in part, but she would never know the full story. And worse, the thought that her presence might have been just enough to turn the tide in favor of the Jedi. That theoretical fatal blaster bolt could be deflected if she was there to stop it.

If this constant worry is not enough, she faces it with nothing interesting to do. Temple life is flat out boring. Sparring is fun, but it only lasts for so long before she tires out and has to do something else. So, she meditates and studies, leaving herself bored, and still worried about Anakin. She spent almost all of her time at the temple as a youngling, and she has no need to repeat the experience. Plus, with everyone else out on the front lines, she is practically alone.

The whole ordeal also makes her feel like a child. Staying at the temple like she did when she was a youngling brings back childhood memories, but this is is not the worst part. The concept of Anakin telling her a mission is too dangerous, it truly shakes her confidence to the core. She is not a Jedi like Anakin or Obi-Wan. Some things are still beyond her. She hates it.

Even just staying at the temple is something she dislikes, now. Sure, when Anakin and Obi-Wan are there, too, she isn't missing anything, but she has come to dislike the temple. It reminds her of being out of the battle. There are things to do, but she will never enjoy it as much as being on the battlefield. Of course, sparring is a fine alternative.

But even that has been taken away from her. After her injuries, she needs time to recover. "Avoid intense physical activity, do not exert yourself," the droid had said. So, whatever Anakin and Obi-Wan would be assigned to next, she would not be able to go.

"Ahsoka, may I come in?" a familiar voice says.

It is Anakin, of course. "You can come in," she says, knowing what is coming, but having no way to stop it. He enters, the look on his face indicating bad news. Then he says it. Of course, she knows it is coming, but that moment when it becomes official is torturous. "Obi-Wan and I will be leaving for an investigation on Bespin, but you cannot go with, due to your injuries." he says, finally. She actually smiles at that. Missing an investigation isn't all that bad. "Bespin," she asks. "I've never heard of it."

"It is a sparsely populated gas giant, but a major producer in tibanna."

"I see," she says. "I won't be missing too much, then," she adds enthusiastically. Anakin nods. "No, you won't."

"How long until you leave?"

"An hour."

"May the Force be with you," she finally says, not knowing anything else to say.

"May the Force be with you, so that you don't die of boredom," he says, making her scowl.

"If you didn't disobey orders, I wouldn't have to go through this."

"Well, then. Consider it my indirect way of teaching patience." She rolls her eyes.

Ahsoka sits in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, meditating. The lovely smell of the greenery seems to bring a calm and serenity nothing else can bring. The beautiful view of it all seems to shed light in the darkest corners of her mind. Even the sounds of rushing water and avian fauna brings joy to her heart. It is here, where the Jedi are one with nature.

She often meditates with her eyes closed, but this time she chooses to keep them open, and take in the view. It is amazing. None of it is completely natural, but it has the feeling of being so. The ceiling on the seven story greenhouse is a technological wonder, and without close inspection, no one would realize that the sky is fake. It is of organic design, with stony pathways, believable hills, and beautiful flora. It is humid, but not uncomfortable. Steam flows out from hidden jets, giving a misty feel to the room.

Small bridges crossed across the chamber, with benches added in various places. Grass, flowers, trees, and everything else in between covered nearly everything, and it was no surprise that a few birds managed to enter. The Jedi had decided to let them stay, and now, generations later, the birds were still in the amazing greenhouse adding to the effect.

The most notable feature, however, that gave the place its name, is the water. Some of it comes in the form of fountains, while most of it is in a more natural looking state. Waterfalls, ponds, and even small rivers all covered the room, and kept the soil rich, and moist. Light from a hyper realistic, artificial, sun bathed the entire greenhouse in soothing light.

Ithorian master Aamow Nuban actually chose to make the vast room his quarters. Instead of having a small, apartment style room in the temple, he chose to sleep on the benches in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The Jedi Council saw nothing wrong with it, as the only thing he did that changed the room was to nourish and care for the plants.

Ahsoka sees master Nuban now, using the Force to care for a sick Fssai tree. He is at peace with the plants. Her mind, however, is not so calm. She had heard the full story, how Anakin forced Yularen to let him join the battle, and if it weren't for Anakin, she would never have been injured. She would never have had to stay at the temple.

It is then when she senses a familiar presence in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, below her. She sits on the edge of a tiny cliff, perhaps a three meters high. It is at an acute angle, in a way that prevents her from seeing the path tracing its bottom edge. "Barriss?"

Ahsoka leans over the edge of the cliff, just enough to see the Jedi on the path beneath her. It is, indeed, Barriss. Barriss looks up, seeing Ahsoka leaning over the edge of the cliff above her. "Ahsoka? Nice seeing you here. A pleasant surprise," she says as she climbs up the rocky face to see Ahsoka.

"Yes, it is nice to see you too," Ahsoka says, as Barriss sits down next to her. Barriss and Ahsoka are peers, but they have little in common in terms of personality. Barriss is a disciplined, polite, and calm Jedi. She has has learned much from her master, especially the fine art of discipline, etiquette, and complete serenity. She is smart, and in many ways, an ideal Jedi.

Ahsoka couldn't be further from it. She has absorbed many traits of her master, though many of Anakin's traits are ones she has had for her all her life. She can use passion to make herself powerful, but she is undisciplined, rash, and prideful. In many ways, she is not an ideal Jedi, but like Anakin, she possesses power and skill in a way that makes her a formidable warrior.

"I sense something is troubling you," Barriss finally says. Ahsoka remains silent, trying to figure out a way to explain things to Barris. Barriss waits for a time, but, not wanting to give silent treatment, says, "What is wrong, Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka thinks for another brief second, then says, "Anakin disobeyed an order in battle. We had it won, between his squadron, and the efforts of Obi-Wan and I on the ground, but after he decimated the CIS fleet he wanted to head down into battle. He was told not to, but he did anyway. As he entered battle, I did not know he was coming, so I got surprised, distracted, and this happened..." She points to a slight spot on her flesh. On the outside, it is barely visible, as a result of great work by the med droids. Barriss looks at the wound, and nods. She is about to say something, but then Ahsoka continues. "As a result of my injury, I need to spend a week of the battlefield, healing."

"So, you are angry about getting shot, as an indirect result of Anakin."

"No, I am angry that I have to stay at the temple doing nothing for a week, as an indirect result of Anakin's actions."

Barriss nods thoughtfully. "So you enjoy being on the battlefield."

"Yes," Ahsoka says. "Whenever Skyguy goes without me, what could happen to him? In addition, I die of boredom here, and feel like a youngling again, not joining him." Barriss says nothing, deciding how she should help Ahsoka. "Anakin is not the only one to blame. It was mainly coincidence, but of course the Sith are the real culprits. Anakin just happened to start an unfortunate chain of events."

"I know, but still, I don't like being out of the battle," Ahsoka says.

"What makes you dislike life at the temple?" Barriss asks, slightly confused, and at the very least, surprised.

"It just... It bores me. Especially when I can't spar."

"I rather like time away from the battle. Take some time to relax, enjoy your time away from battle. Plus, master Yoda says, that Jedi shouldn't crave adventure or glory."

"That doesn't change the fact that I don't like life off the battlefield," Ahsoka says, sighing.

"Well then, perhaps the problem is not in the situation, but in you. You need to learn serenity, peace, and harmony."

"Throw in knowledge and you have the Jedi code," Ahsoka says, the joke lightening her own mood. Even Barriss finds it somewhat funny.

"Well you could spend some time doing your studies..."

"Well, then," Ahsoka says, somewhat in despair after Barriss turned the situation back against her. No one likes when someone points out their faults, and Ahsoka is certainly one of them. "I guess I should spend some time meditating," she says.

"Would you like me to meditate with you?" Barriss asks kindly.

"Sure, Barriss, let's meditate. And by the way, thanks for this."

Anakin strides through the Republic hangar, where Obi-Wan is already waiting. In addition to Obi-Wan, the clones going with them are waiting, too. Even his loyal droid, R2-D2, who had been recently rescued from the clutches of General Grievous, had gotten to the briefing before him. They all stand inside the hanger of the Jedi Temple, where his ship, the _Twilight_ , awaits them.

They want the mission to be subtle, so only a few clones are joining them. Anakin has chosen Rex, in addition to Echo and Fives, recently promoted after heroics on the Rishi moon, and ready to go back to battle.

As Anakin steps into the huddle, he sees Obi-Wan's selections. His master has chosen three clones as well, of course including Cody. The other two are known as Waxer and Boil, though Anakin knows little else about them.

"Anakin, you're late again. Have you no respect for rules?" Obi-Wan asks. Anakin "Sorry, master, I have no excuse." He does, of course, but claiming to have no excuse is his way of saying "Don't ask." In reality, he had been saying goodbye to Padmé, as she was leaving on a diplomatic mission to Rodia.

Obi-Wan decides not to dig any further, and only sighs. Anakin reminds him of Quinlan Vos, in some ways, with how he seems to have no respect for rules. Obi-Wan had not seen Vos since the start of the Clone Wars, but he knew him by reputation, and by earlier missions.

"So, Anakin, I trust you have been briefed on everything." Of course he has, the Council had already gone over things earlier, and they had very little to go on.

"I went over the same things with the rest of our crew," Obi-Wan adds. Artoo gives an affirmative whistle.

Obi-Wan does still say, "I do have a few more things to add. Our mission is more than investigation. Though the reports are unconfirmed, it is more than likely to have CIS involvement. We are authorized to use our best judgement in terms of acting on what we find. I also have a datapad here, with the results for the decline." He hands Anakin a datapad, who takes a close look.

It is quite obvious that something is going on. Sorted by the companies in terms of most loss to least loss, the first one has had 13% percent less than last month. Next ones were slightly lower, and five companies seemed to be in that general range. Still, many were giving the same amounts of tibanna. "Cloud City officials are blaming unusual loses in tibanna gas presence, as a result of unique solar activity," Obi-Wan adds.

"Then how come some companies have the same amount of production," Anakin says, pointing out the obvious flaw.

"Actually," Obi-Wan adds, "Tibanna content has been tested, and the results seem to prove that it is true."

Anakin sighs. "This whole mission might be for nothing, then. They could be telling the truth."

This is why he hates investigations.

"We do have a scientist with us, who can help try to recreate the test results. If the results are different than what came up before, we can tell if someone has tampered with the previous results."

Anakin looks around, confused. "Where is he?"

"Actually a she," Obi-Wan says. "She will meet us when we reach Bespin."

"Why?" Anakin asks, suspicion in his voice.

"She lives on a far Outer Rim world, and going to Coruscant makes no sense."

Anakin frowns. "How did we find out about her?"

"I don't know, Anakin! Stop being so suspicious!" Obi-Wan says, starting to anger.

"This is why I hate investigations! You have to be suspicious!" Anakin says, and Obi-Wan has to realize that Anakin is right. They do have to be suspicious.

"I am sure she has already been given a background check, and that she is perfectly fine."

Anakin rolls his eyes. "It's time to board," he says, ready to get going, and get things over with. Obi-Wan is happy to comply, and he follows Anakin onto the _Twilight_ , bucket of bolts that it is.


	3. Chapter 3

The _Twilight_ is, by no means, a nice ship. It simply isn't. It just is not Obi-Wan's taste in ships. Unreliable, is one way of putting it, but still, Anakin is right. It doesn't attract attention. It is a very old ship that Anakin once stole from the a Separatists, at the Battle of Teth. The civilian fighter is old, rugged, and simply unreliable.

If they want to keep a low profile, they could always rent out a YT-1300. It isn't an undercover mission, but Anakin doesn't want a random CIS agent casually passing by to notice a Republic ship. Flying the _Twilight_ is a minor secrecy measure, but every little bit helps. Still, drawbacks are certainly ever-present.

Anakin casually presses the button to close the ramp, and the only result is a small puff of smoke. He presses it again, and nothing happens, this time. Then, suddenly, a second later, it closes. Obi-Wan sighs. This time he verbalizes his suggestion about using a YT-1300, and Anakin smiles. "Well, why switch now?"

Echo and Fives look at each other, smiling, but Rex keeps his composure. The clones like to see Anakin get the better of Obi-Wan. Cody gives Rex a slight punch on the shoulder. A fairly understandable voice, through the comm, says, "Generals Skywalker and Kenobi, you are cleared for takeoff." A large hangar door opens up, revealing the night of Coruscant.

Coruscant is often called a nocturnal planet. It is similar to any other planet, in terms of might and day, astronomically, but it always has occupants that are awake. The diversity is one part, but everyone is just so busy. Of course, at night, the lights have a deeper contrast that make the busyness so much more obvious. It is beautiful, having all the lights in an amazing background that is the darkness. It is even more amazing from space, and they will soon be getting that experience, again.

Obi-Wan sits down in the co-pilot's seat. "Okay, Anakin, let's go." Anakin smiles, and this time, for once, the takeoff is smooth. Well, not smooth, but at least they get it on the first try. The _Twilight's_ bottom wing separates itself from the starboard wing, until the two are at a 90 degree angle, and the _Twilight_ rises up into the atmosphere.

"Preparing for the jump to hyperspace," Anakin finally says, once they are safely out of the planet's gravitational field. They take one last look at Coruscant, lit up in all its glory. Obi-Wan smiles, a little, at the sight. It is one, big, glowing, ball that one might mistake for a star. They had slipped past the Republic blockade and space traffic with ease, as a result of their military clearance, and after only minutes, they were ready to make the jump.

Anakin double checks the coordinates, earning an annoyed bloop from Artoo, translating along the lines of, "I already checked them, and I don't make mistakes."

"Don't make me give you back to Grievous!" Anakin smugly says. Pretty much everyone on the ship laughs at that, but Obi-Wan says, "Anakin, you took enough risks getting him back, don't waste it." After rescuing Artoo, Obi-Wan had commented that Anakin risked his clones, the mission, and even Ahsoka, for a droid, and he wasn't even wrong. Anakin likes to take risks.

Finally, Anakin pulls on a lever to send the ship into hyperspace. The stars morph into thin, blue streaks, and, wait, they didn't? Obi-Wan rubs his eyes and blinks, but no, they are not in hyperspace. Nothing has happened. They are still in the blackness of space. "Well, you know what they say, second time's the charm," Anakin says.

"Well, it did work with the boarding ramp," Rex says, and Obi-Wan looks at him, annoyed. Fives and Echo laugh at Rex's joke, but no one else does.

"My thoughts exactly," Anakin says, as he again pulls the lever. This time, he is greeted by a crackling noise, which suddenly gets louder for a second, then quiets. Anakin goes to the engine room, where the hyperdrive is, as well.

He is greeted by a smoking hyperdrive with a large crack in it. Obi-Wan joins him, and sees the hyperdrive, saying, "I told you we should have used something else."

Anakin has no reply. "I'll have to get this fixed."

Obi-Wan smiles. "There is no time, now. We will have to fly a different ship." Anakin knows he is right, and can do nothing as Waxer and Boil chuckle.

Anakin and Obi-Wan walk back into the cockpit. Rex, Echo, Fives, and Cody overheard the general idea of what happened, and look to The Jedi for confirmation. "The hyperdrive won't be working anytime soon," Obi-Wan says.

"Well, then," Cody says. "I guess we won't have to crammed into this bucket of bolts anymore."

"My thoughts exactly," Obi-Wan says, smiling. "Now, please tell me the comm works."

A worried expression takes over Anakin's face. If the comm, doesn't work, Obi-Wan will probably force him to scrap the _Twilight_. He presses a few buttons on the control panels, silently begging for the comm to work. "This is Republic Star Destroyer _Justice_ , to General Kenobi and General Skywalker. What seems to be going on."

"We had a slight problem with the hyperdrive..." Anakin says.

"The hyperdrive is smoking and has a large crack in it," Obi-Wan clarifies, "and this ship has no backup hyperdrive. Of course, I don't expect this bucket of bolts to be going anywhere soon, and we will need another transport."

"You can dock in the primary port side hangar, if your sublight engines are doing fine," the voice in the comm says. "We should be able to get you another ship."

"Thank you. We need something with capacity for eight, plus an astromech. Ideally something not obviously Republic, but we can take whatever."

Anakin turns the ship around, and heads for the _Justice_. They fly into the main hangar, and the party steps out of the _Twilight_. They are surprised to see that a squad of clones and the ship's captain have come to the hangar to greet them. "Hello, generals, I am Captain Madoon. It is a pleasure to see you."

Anakin would not be surprised if Madoon was the oldest person in the Republic navy. His hair isn't gray or white, it is gone completely. Beneath Madoon's shiny scalp lies an old, wrinkled face that could be in its 90s. His cheeks are sunken and his nose is tall, giving him a very tall, shiny face. Behind charming blue eyes, Anakin is sure there is a powerful mind, old as it is.

"Indeed. Could you get this ship to the repair docks?" Obi-Wan says in response, as Anakin snaps himself back to reality. "Anakin has developed an... Attachment to it." Madoon smiles.

"I can have it dropped off this very hour, and he can have his ship fixed soon. I know what it's like," the old captain says as he gestures towards a door. "You see, I once owned a RJ-12 Dagger class shuttle, back when I was young, and I loved her with all my heart..."

Obi-Wan takes his turn to let his mind wander, not interested in the man's story. Anakin seems enthralled, but Obi-Wan takes no interest. They stride through bland, gray corridor after bland, gray corridor as they head to the hangar with their shuttle, and Obi-Wan lets his mind drift through the menial task.

Nyyv Nunb backs against the wall of the conference room, before slipping into a closet to catch his breath. He has been running around through the Justice, trying to get dodge various groups of clone troopers. They do not know he is on the ship, but they still would arrest him if they found him. Nyyv decides to stay in the closet for another few seconds, as he hears a few clones passing by.

Nyyv is a Sullustan, with tannish skin, rodent-like features, and distinctive cheek flaps. He wears a dark blue undershirt covered by a tan vest. His similarly colored pants were covered in pockets, which were filled with almost everything he could possibly need. Tools, lock picks, a holdout blaster, a couple of grenades, basic medical supplies, a comlink, credits, a datapad, and quite a few random gadgets were the main contents of his pockets, but if he dug around, he could probably find other stuff, too. Another cool gadget, not in his pocket, was a voice editor, that would automatically edit his speech, and change the language to Basic.

Nyyv is, or was a smuggler, but he just ran out of luck as he went past customs, and suddenly, clones were trying to arrest him. With a bit of luck, skill, and sacrifice from his astromech, he managed to escape the clones, and hide in the bowels of the ship. To throw them off his trail, he hijacked an escape pod, and sent it off, empty. Of course, the tactic was doomed to failure. Knowing they had a criminal within the ship, they shot the escape pod and incinerated it. Nyyv, of course, was not on the escape pod, but the clones never checked.

Security was lowered after that, but he still needed a way out. Even if they thought he was dead, he didn't get out for free. So here he is, cowering in a closet to dodge some clones heading to the mess hall. Hearing nothing, he opens the door, and walks out, carefully. Blaster in hand, he checks around the corner, and heads down the hall. Finally, he reaches a large hangar. It is filled with clones and mechanics, but it is his only way out.

He knows that if he can sneak onto a shuttle, he should be fine. As soon as a pilot comes in, he will kill the pilot and take off. They would investigate an unauthorized departure, and he would not make it out. But, if a pilot is coming onboard, the shuttle would be scheduled to leave, anyway, and he would be fine. All he has to do is get to a shuttle.

Getting to a shuttle is the tricky part. He needs to be cautious, if they spot him, he is dead. Perhaps they, in their distracted state, focused on their work, they wouldn't notice a clone who looks a little too small for his armor...

Of course, finding a clone who is all alone is easier said than done, and killing him quietly is no easy task. Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, that sound alone, he decides to check it out. He sees no hiding place, so however is coming will notice him. If it is more than one clone, he can do nothing. Of course, it sounds like it is only one. It could be a Jedi, for all he knows. So, he steps into the hall, and sees his opponent, standing there, surprised. It is a clone trooper. He is saved.

The clone raises his blaster, but Nyyv has no intent to use his holdout blaster. A blaster wound would be too noticeable. However, a small slit and the body glove, near the neck, could go unnoticed. Nyyv holds the dagger in his hand. He has only one shot. It is do, or die. He simply acts on his instinct, and his years of practice.

His dagger slides from his hand, towards the clone at a high speed. The clone can't fire in time, Nyyv knows it. But, if his throw misses, he will be defenseless. It sails through the air like a bullet, and the clone tries to dodge. It is too late to dodge. His only shot is if Nyyv's shot, slightly too low, hits his chest armor. His knife cannot pierce armor, so it has to hit the small slit of cloth between the helmet and the chest armor.

It hits. The knife cuts through the cloth like butter, and stabs the clone in the neck. The clone falls to the ground, his destroyed voicebox only capable of an ugly clone falls to the ground, and Nyyv approaches, cautiously. He takes off the helmet, and a shot to the face ends his life, for sure. (His holdout blaster makes very little noise.)

Nyyv removes the armor, and puts it on himself. It is way too small, but even an obvious disguise should be enough to get him through the hangar. He walks into the hangar, leaving the body behind him. They won't notice until it is too late. No one pays him any attention, so he walks right up to a shuttle, and begins picking the lock. He does it with practiced ease, quick enough that he could have simply been fumbling around with his ID card.

He steps into the shuttle, and closes the door behind him. Time to wait.

It does not take long for someone to come. "Lucky", he tells himself, as he listens carefully. Several people are talking, that is for sure. This could get difficult. He listens to try and count the voices. A clone, another clone, and not a clone. Another non-clone voice speaks. He recognizes those non-clone voices. But, just who in the world are they?

He starts to creep behind cover, but then he recognizes the voices. They are Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker. Thinking fast, he jumps into the underside storage. His small Sullustan body fits in, barely, but he knows this is not good. Wherever they go, he will have to get off, and make a break for it. The last thing he wants is to be on a ship with the two most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. Based on the holonet, he has no chance if they discover him. It will be a most interesting stowaway journey, and one he hopes will end soon.

Anakin steps onto the shuttle, shortly followed by Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, and everyone else. "Well, boys, let's finally get to Cloud City. We have a mission to start," he says as he sits down in the cockpit. Obi-Wan sits down next to him, while the clones head to the back passenger compartment.

Obi-Wan watches as Anakin expertly turns on the engines, far too familiar with the controls. The shuttle floats into the air, hovering above the ground for a second, and then starts to move forward, out of the hangar. It whizzes over the personnel, and exits the hangar bay. The shuttle quickly flies into the range for a safe jump to hyperspace, and this time Anakin doesn't double check the coordinates, as to not upset his faithful astomech droid, R2-D2.

This time, when he pulls the lever, the stars fade into thin, blue, streaks and the shuttle jumps into hyperspace. They are en route to Bespin, stowaway and all.

The blue tunnel of hyperspace finally fades out, back into the blackness of realspace. Sitting within the infinite blackness, is Bespin. The gas giant has orange, yellow, and even red hues in it from space, beautiful clouds of gas looking like a romantic sunset. Anakin smiles slightly at its splendor, as he flies the ship to get in close, and land on Cloud City.

The planet is even more spectacular as they get in closer, white clouds turning red as a result of the light, creating shadows against the orange and yellow horizon. It is an amazing sunset, though if reputations are in any way correct, it is no better than most other sunsets on Bespin. Anakin maneuvers the ship gracefully amongst the clouds, flying slowly as to make the moment last. Two orange Cloud Cars circle in behind them, following Anakin's graceful patterns. "This is Cloud City patrol, who are you, and do you have a landing permit?"

"This is Republic General Anakin Skywalker. We have a landing permit, transmitting it now," Anakin says into the comm. He presses a few buttons, and types in a bit of information, and after a few seconds, the voice in comm responds, "You have permission to land on Platform 327, please do not deviate from your present course, and the administrator will be coming out to meet you."

Obi-Wan smiles. "I guess they find us pretty important," he says. Shortly after his comment, they burst through a cloud, and are able to see Cloud City in its fullest. The main part of the floating city is a round, disk-like object, getting thinner as it goes farther from the center, in a saucer shape. Beneath it is a thin, cylindrical object, that is a massive tube called the stalk. It is a fine work of architecture, with an aesthetic as pleasing as the rest of Bespin, and, apparently, a functionality that is equally impressive.

They fly in, towards their landing platform, on the top part of the city. Anakin slows down to fly around the buildings before finally reaching their destination. Anakin brings the ship to a stop, hovering above the platform, before lowering it. The landing gear touch down, and the ship comes to a rest. "Another happy landing," Obi-Wan says. They lower the boarding ramp, and step out, onto Cloud City.

The clones follow, until they have all come out of the shuttle. All except one, of course. Nyyv opens up a hatch, and peeks out, but decides to stay in his hiding place for a little longer, until the Jedi are gone.

The door to the landing platform opens, and the Baron Administrator walks out, followed by ten members of the Bespin Wing Guard. The Wing Guard are clad blue jackets, hats, and pants, with thin yellow stripes lining the edges. They are all armed with blaster rifles, so they are a formidable force.

In front of them is the Baron Administrator himself, Bokree Tirun. He is a Togruta with dark red skin, and the usual white tattoos. He has very long montrals, nearly reaching his knees, and also going about a third of a meter above his head. The montrals are striped navy blue and white. Both the dark colors of both his face and montrals give him a powerful presence, and complement his dark clothes well.

He steps up to them, shaping their hands firmly. "Greetings, Jedi. It was an unexpected pleasure to hear that you were coming," he says.

"Yes, it is good to meet you," Obi-Wan responds.

"So, I heard that you are here to investigate the decrease in tibanna gas production," the Baron Administrator says.

"Yes," Obi-Wan responds. "We are here for that. If the CIS has agents infiltrating your industry, we will root them out."

Bokree frowns. "I hate to see corruption come here, but I would be glad if you can deal with it," he says.

"Is there anything that you can tell us?" Obi-Wan asks, hopeful.

"We know little about this, and the Republic has taken charge of the investigation, so all the information will have already been given to you," Bokree responds, subtly shaking his head.

"Well, then, thank you, Administrator. We will keep you alerted," Obi-Wan says.

"Yes. It was nice meeting you. Let me take you to your quarters," Bokree says, turning to leave, gesturing for the Jedi to follow. The Wing Guard simply stand and wait for everyone to pass, then follow up behind. The doors close behind them, leaving the landing platform empty. Nyyv, finally, crawls out of his hiding spot, his sore muscles and bones making various noises in pain. He stretches out, and feels a satisfying feeling of relaxation by the time he finishes. He looks out of the ship, checking for anyone.

Seeing no one, he steps out of the shuttle, observing his surroundings. He finally jumps off the landing platform, and heads off to see where he is.


	4. Chapter 4

The quarters given to them are splendid. It is on the highest levels, and the panoramic windows provide provide amazing views of the smooth clouds, lovely buildings, and intense sunset. The room, otherwise, like a lot of Cloud City, is a clean white, for the walls, to the ceiling, to the carpet, and the furniture. It is a color that complements both blue skies in the afternoon, and orange skies at dawn and dusk.

It has room for all of the group in its various bedrooms, and the final member of the crew is scheduled to arrive soon. She is the group's scientist, assigned to the mission in order to do tests to support or disprove the claims of Cloud City officials, although she is not a Republic hired scientist. An expert in the field of atmospheric gases, she had heard the rumors of decreased production, and decided to investigate the problem scientifically.

When the Republic heard of her efforts, they offered her a chance to join the mission, and she accepted. So, she is scheduled to meet the investigation crew. Finally, Artoo goes up to Anakin, and, in a series of beeps and whistles, tells Anakin that their final crew member has arrived. Anakin quickly walks up to door, followed by Obi-Wan and a helmetless Rex and Cody. Echo, Fives, Waxer, and Boil are too engrossed in arm-wrestling.

Anakin opens the door, and out comes a short, human woman. "Hello," she says, clearly a bit intimidated at meeting the legendary Jedi. Finally, she continues, "I am Shyvis Deenia, and I have volunteered to help with the investigation," she says, red-faced.

Obi-Wan nods, and soothingly says, "Yes, I am sure that you can be a big help to our mission. Please, take a seat, we need to make a plan."

Nyyv crawls up through a duct shaft, into a cantina that had been suggested he visit. He went to the seediest place he could find, and asked the bartender for an even seedier location. After cross-referencing with a few other patrons, he learned that the most illicit, seedy, rowdy, and unlawful place on Cloud City is called the "Four and a Half," named after its location. It sits between levels 124 and 125, on top of a heat sink array that it uses for power.

It is beneath a water pipe that is diverted to also pour drinks in the "Four and a Half." Stepping inside is technically illegal, as it even existing is illegal. The shady cantina will be the perfect place for Nyyv to find someone willing to give him a job smuggling. Reaching the end of the shaft, he pokes his head through a hole and sees the cantina. He has reached his target. He crawls out, and takes a look around.

It is dark, smelly, loud, and has quite a few bloodstains. A Duros standing behind the bar turns to him, his red eyes glistening. The Duros's green skin wrinkles as he eyes down the new patron, and he finally says, "Shorty, are you new here?" Nyyv clutches his knife a little tighter, and checks to make sure his holdout blaster is visible sticking out of his pocket. He sits down, and puts his knife hand on the table.

"Just give me a drink. What do you have here?" Nyyv says, trying to sound intimidating. The Duros puts his face in close to Nyyv, his rotten teeth being revealed in a vile grin.

"Well, I will just get you the house specialty, Ugnaught Spit," the Duros says, turning around to pour it. Nyyv keeps his anger silent, as he decides that getting violent this early on will only earn him more disrespect. The Duros, after a few seconds, turns back around, holding an old looking glass with an ugly red liquid. "Give me a credit, just one. This is the cheapest way to get drunk on all of Bespin," he says, slapping the drink on the table.

Nyyv pulls out a credit chip, and hands it to the bartender. He takes the drink, and downs it in one, long gulp. He roughly sets the cup down, imitating the bartender, and then slides it across the table. "Another."

The bartender takes it, and refills it. He slaps it down, again, and watches as Nyyv throws down a credit and drinks it. This time he drinks it in two gulps, but still slaps it down. "Keep 'em coming," he says. The bartender takes it but doesn't refill it. He simply waits, looking behind Nyyv.

Nyyv turns around to see what the bartender is looking at. Behind him, stands a Weequay, pointing a blaster pistol at Nyyv. The Weequay's free hand slaps down on Nyyv's knife hand, and presses hard enough that Nyyv cannot lift his arm, and use the knife. "What'cha do'in here, shorty?" The Weequay says in a deep voice. Nyyv narrows his eyes, determined not to look intimidated. He needs to look strong and powerful if he wants to survive. He considers what the best response is, and finally says, "What are you doing here?"

The Weequay snarls, and presses the pistol against Nyyv's skull. "Listen, shorty. You submit t' us now," the Weequay says, his nostrils flaring. Nyyv thumbs the stun setting onto his holdout blaster. Before his larger opponent notices, he fires it into his gut. The Weequay falls to the ground, nearly unconscious.

Nyyv smiles as he puts it back to kill, showing the motion for all to see. He points it down at his dead opponent's head, but realizes that a death might upset someone. "Can I kill him?" he asks with a smile. The general sound he hears is one of approval, so he fires upon his helpless opponent, killing him.

The Duros fills his drink, and gives it to him. "You did well, here's your next one. Consider it a well-earned drink." Nyyv savors this one as he throws down a third credit. Once he finishes, he gives the cup back to the bartender, and stands up. He is satisfied to have earned a little respect, so he heads to a booth in the corner, sits down, and watches a game of Sabacc.

It isn't long until someone approaches him. He a human in armor similar to that of a Mandalorian, but it simply has a hole instead of a visor. Nyyv looks at him closely, considering the visitor. "Are you a Mandalorian?" he finally asks.

The man simply says, "I will tell you who I am, but first, I want to know what you are doing here."

"Agreed."

Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, and Shyvis sit down, and Echo, Fives, Waxer, and Boil stop arm-wrestling as they prepare to make their plan. Obi-Wan speaks first, and says, "I am sure that you know Anakin and I, but the other members of our team are, Rex, Cody, Fives, Echo, Waxer, and Boil." He points to everyone as he speaks, and Shyvis closely looks at all of them.

She nods, and says, "Well, hello, I guess."

"Hi," the clones simply say to her.

"You ready to serve the Republic!" Rex says, an excited tone in his voice.

"I sure am," she says, trying to match the excitement.

"Well, then," Obi-Wan says. "Let's make our plan." Anakin nods. It is time to get down to business.

"First, I think we should investigate the producer with the most notable decrease in production. It is a minor one, so that would be a good idea to investigate. The fewer the people, the easier the corruption," Anakin suggests, and is met with a general chorus of agreement.

Shyvis speaks up, saying, "Perhaps I could do the tests on the atmosphere while you are investigating the producer." Obi-Wan puzzles over the idea, but finally says, "Perhaps Waxer and Boil should accompany you. If whoever is behind this finds out about us, you may need some firepower to help you out." She nods agreement.

They then continue going over a rather basic plan, essentially saying that they will do the obvious things in such a situation.

The Mandalorian sits down next to Nyyv, and looks him in the eye. "So, what brings you here, to the Four-and-a-Half?" Nyyv scratches beneath his jowls, considering what to say. His visitor waits patiently until Nyyv finally begins.

"I am Nyyv Nunb. So, a smuggling job went bad, and I ended up on the run, aboard a Republic Star Destroyer. I tried to steal a ship, but I ended up stowing away on it, since some Jedi were using it. They went here, to Bespin, and I decided to take a look around." The Mandalorian's eyes widen.

In a whisper, the Mandalorian says, "There are Jedi here on Bespin?! Do you know what they are up to?"

Nyyv knows some, but not much, but he says what he knows. "They said something about an investigation."

The Mandalorian gasps. "Do you know who and where they are?"

"They are Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and a handful of clones. All I know of their location is that their ship is platform 327," he says, and the Mandalorian becomes even more surprised, clearly terrified at the thought of such powerful Jedi.

"Thank you. Here is 500 credits to pay for that information," the Mandalorian says, earning a nice smile from Nyyv. "You have done a great service to the CIS. We thank you greatly." The Mandalorian turns to leave. Nyyv decides not to ask further, but then remembers their agreement, saying they would tell each other about themselves. "Wait a minute. You said you would tell me about yourself.

"Fine. I, Janev Daagh abandoned my Mandalorian heritage but kept my armor, and became a bounty hunter. Is that enough for you?"

Nyyv considers it, and agrees. "Fine. You can leave."

Janev walks out, happy with the encounter. He got very lucky, and Commander Ventress will certainly reward him for it. Of course, their mole should have told them that information, but their mole sometimes could not contact them, so it would be perfectly normal for them to not know an important piece of information like that.

Nyyv might have just saved their skins, and he is ready to take advantage. He smiles grimly. It is time for some espionage, planning, and communication. He activates his comlink and contacts Ventress. Keeping his voice low, he says, "Commander. I have found out a very important piece of information that you might want to know..."

Janev squints as he looks through the scope of his sniper rifle. He draws in a deep breath as he looks at the Jedi. They are walking down one of the alleyways, with four other clones, and they seem to be casually talking about something. They turn towards him, now, and he has a clear shot.

The Jedi have reached 30 meters now, and the street they are on is going towards him. He needs to wait longer, for them to reach the range of an easy shot. It is time to deal with the Jedi pests, and for Janev to do what he was meant to do. It is time for Janev to kill, with aid from several droids, of course, but it is time to fight. He checks the ammo on his rifle, and waits some more. The Jedi are at 25 meters, and Janev smiles. They are in range, but he decides to wait longer for an easier shot.

Ventress predicted that the Jedi would investigate the producer with the most decrease, so they decided to wait for the Jedi on a street on the way to his office. Ventress decided not to come, as to protect the secrecy of their mission. She is not ready to reveal her presence yet, so Janev was happy to lead the mission.

Of course, he has help from a Droid Gunship filled with ten Super Battle Droids. And just to be safe, Ventress let him have a couple of Droidekas. Right now, all is hidden from the unaware Jedi, but the trap is about to be sprung.

"Obi-Wan, I sense something," Anakin says, as he realizes a subtle sense of danger has come over him. Rex and Cody instinctively get their blasters in hand, pointing forward, and scan the area, but they see nothing. "Hmmm... You're right, Anakin. Something is definitely not right." Now they both let their hands drop down to their lightsabers.

"Well, if it's a trap, then we might be able to learn something from it. If we surprise them, then perhaps we can get some clues as to what is going on," Anakin says. It looks like they might be once again using their infamous method of spring-the-trap.

"Yes, let's see what our opponents are planning," Obi-Wan calmly says.

"That is the difference between a clone and a Jedi," Echo says. "The Jedi assume that a trap will be beneficial." Anakin and Obi-Wan decide not to respond, letting the clones have their fun. Rex and Cody put their blasters down, but keep holding them, and keep their senses ready. Fives and Echo do similarly, in an attempt to lure their opponents into a sense of security. "It's the little things that count," they tell themselves.

They continue walking, keeping their senses alert, and not talking. They try to act casual, but it is clear that they are alert. Of course, whoever their attackers are will likely still act the same. "Let's spring the trap," Obi-Wan says, as the Force tells him that it is coming soon.

Janev tightly clutches his blaster rifle. It looks like the Jedi have realized that something is amiss. Still, they will be no match. Ventress told him to take them alive, if possible, but he decides that he will go for an assassination of Kenobi, then converge on Skywalker and the clones with his droids. "All too easy," he says.

Once Kenobi is dead, the clones are dead, and Skywalker is captured or dead, all he will have to do is grab their lightsabers, which is a strange but still easy request from Ventress, and then leave before anyone finds out anything.

It is time. His shot will signal everyone else into action, so he needs to do nothing but shoot. He chuckles and says, "Now you die, Jedi." He aims directly at Obi-Wan's heart, the scope zooming in intensely.

He pulls the trigger.

Obi-Wan senses it before he sees or hears it. Before the shot has even left the barrel, he is reacting. In fluid motion, he pulls his lightsaber upwards, angles it so that it deflects the shot perfectly, and moves into a combat stance.

The shot bounces of Obi-Wan's blade harmlessly, going straight back in the general direction of the shooter. He hears a grunt, but cannot see the shooter at all. Before he can see what happened, five Super Battle Droids come at them from a side street, and five from the other direction on the same street, cutting off escapes on their left and right. In front, a Droideka rolls in, and another one comes in behind.

They are trapped on all sides, with no cover, but danger is hardly present. Not yet, at least. Once everyone has activated their weapons, Obi-Wan and Anakin go back to back, with the clones close enough to them so that their Jedi allies can deflect incoming fire.

Anakin speaks up over the blaster fire, saying, "Echo, Fives, go after that sniper, if he is still alive," earning an unseen frown from Obi-Wan. Still, his former master verbalizes no objections, and the clones obey immediately.

Deflected fire from Anakin and Obi-Wan mainly gets soaked up in the armor and shields of their opponents, and shots from Rex and Cody meet the same fate. "Well, master, any brilliant ideas?" Anakin asks.

"No, not really," Obi-Wan responds as he narrowly deflects a shot from one of the Droidekas.

"Well, then. A plain offensive is the best we have. Rex and I can take the SBDs on our right, you and Cody take the left."

"Stop bossing everyone around. I am in charge here," Obi-Wan says with a hint of sarcastic anger.

"You just said that you have no better ideas."

Obi-Wan sighs, and nods to Cody. "Let's go!"

As Obi-Wan and Cody charge, the lead SBD fires a missile. Obi-Wan aggressively pushes his hand forward, a gesture that helps him concentrate with the Force. Similarly, the hand of the Force pushes the missile. It stops midair, before completely going backwards, back at the sender. It hits the SBD, and the droid explodes. The blast knocks back the others, and the hesitation gives Cody a chance to fire at a still target, one he has no chance of missing.

It hits squarely in the main sensor eye, destroying the droid. The remaining droids quickly fall to Kenobi's blade, reduced to spare parts.

Janev watches as his amazing plan falls apart. Kenobi and Skywalker have survived as long as they have for a reason, and he sees it. Why did he think that his pathetic force could bring them down? He never had a chance, but he can still survive. He activates his jetpack, sailing out from behind his cover.

Suddenly, he hears a blaster shot hit his jetpack, and he immediately takes the smoking, sparking, device off his back. He throws it to the ground as he falls out of the air. As he looks beyond his about to explode jetpack, he sees two clones, both aiming their blasters at him. Before they fire, his jetpack explodes, but all three of them are at a safe distance.

Still, the explosion gives him time to stand back up and aim a wrist rocket. Rather than aiming at the clones, he aims at the ground next to them, so that even a miss can still get them in the blast.

They leap out of the way, they are still close enough to get thrown back, off the edge of the roof they are on. He activates his wrist comm, and calls in his one remaining hope: "Droid Gunship, we need backup, now."

Obi-Wan looks to Anakin, who has results similar to his. However, before they can meet up, two Droidekas roll in between them. It is time to clean up their last opponents. They both charge in, at the Droidekas separating them. They both deflect the shots fired at them, and both step to the side as the clones step up. Both Rex and Cody roll a grenade at the Droidekas, and both do it perfectly. The roll is fast enough to reach the target, but slow enough to penetrate the shield.

The grenades explode, destroying the Droidekas. "Destroy the destroyer," Anakin says with a smile as they meet up in the center.

"Any idea where Echo, Fives, and the sniper went?" Anakin asks. Obi-Wan considers the question, but has no answer. It is then, when, suddenly, a Droid Gunship flies in overhead, its powerful guns pointing straight at them.

Rex and Cody are suddenly flung out of the area where the shot is aimed, propelled by the Force. They hit a building hard, and both feel a slight headache despite their helmet. An explosion prevents them from seeing what happens to Anakin and Obi-Wan, but they relax in the fact that their Jedi generals have likely jumped clear of the blast.

They try to reach for the blasters they dropped, but a man in Mandalorian armor jumps in front of them, and kicks the weapons away from them. He points his blasters at them, and says, in a grim voice, "You're coming with me." They have no choice as he slaps binders on them, and takes them aboard the Droid Gunship.

Echo looks at the sight. He and Fives are safe, apparently the Mandalorian forgot about them. The Mandalorian takes Rex and Cody prisoner onto a Droid Gunship, and he and Fives decide that they can do nothing. They have no reason to meaninglessly sacrifice themselves to the CIS.

They both see that the blast has taken down a building with its shock wave, but they cannot tell the fate of the Jedi, beneath all of the rubble. All they can do is wait, as their officers are taken away by the droids.

Soon, the Wing Guard show up, but everyone is long gone, and Echo and Fives are the only ones still there, unless the Jedi are still alive.


End file.
